


Mad As Rabbits

by pukeytyler (cherryblur)



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cannibalism, Car Sex, Country & Western, Eye Trauma, Family Bonding, M/M, Murder, Mutilation, Power Imbalance, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Secret Relationship, Smut, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-01-13 12:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18468994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryblur/pseuds/pukeytyler
Summary: “I figure y’best be leavin’ soon,” He cocks his head with a rosy-lipped pout.“N’less you wanna stay fr’dinner.”•Josh starts a new job as a farmhand and finds that the benefits (and dangers) are a little more than he bargained for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> updated whenever the fuck I feel like it sorry

“Tyler! Go greet y’daddy’s new worker ‘n get off y’ass!”

There’s a rustling and plenty of complaining when Tyler rolls himself off the couch and starts for the screen door with a “Yes, mama.”  
His dirt-blackened feet creak against their old wooden floors and he looks back to see his mother still slicing onions (from the garden) for tonight’s dinner. 

Sticky summer air clings to him and buzzes in his ears. The dust settling on everything in their house makes him crinkle his nose when he stirs and it busies itself tangling into his hair.

He peers out the kitchen window and sees a boy hopping out of a rickety blue pickup.  
“Where’s daddy, ma? Ain’t he supposed to meet his new worker boys?”

He shifts on his feet and sees a head of curly brown locks look in his direction.  
“Why do I gotta do it?”  
He bites his puffy lips and wonders what could be lying underneath those well-worn hands and even more worn eyes.

”Shaddup ‘n go say hi, y’daddy’s busy with the new farm ‘quipment,” His mom answered. And with a second thought, added, “Git goin’ before I thwack ‘ya, boy.”

Tyler’s quick to step outside, fingers tugging on the shorts hugging his waist.  
“You my daddy’s new farmhand?” He calls out from the back porch.  
The boy turns his attention onto Tyler and smiles shyly. “I am, does he happen to be here?”

Tyler shakes his head. “Naw, he’s out w’the new ‘quipment.” He perches a hand on his hip and cocks his head. “Wha’s y’name?”

”Josh.”  
Josh comes closer, with steady steps and a sturdier smile when he shakes Tyler’s hand.  
“You must be Tyler, I assume? Chris told me he had a son.”

Tyler nods with a pout. “S’my name. What else did my daddy tell you ‘bout me?” He blinks with long eyelashes and watches Josh’s face heat up in the warm air.

”Ah, nothing more, really, I-“

”Tyler-I told ya t’greet ‘m, not flirt!” Kelly shouts through the screen door.  
“Josh, you come on inside, hear me?”

Josh’s attention is split from Tyler. “Yes ma’am,” He nods and heads inside, where a chattering Kelly starts to poke and prod about his livelihood and looks.  
Tyler stands on the deck like a sitting duck.

 _Flirt,_ he scoffs. How could he flirt when he’s barely just met the guy?

He stares into the back of a wrinkled work shirt and knows he could do a hell of a lot better if he were quote-unquote _flirting_.

When the time comes, it comes, his mind says.  
He just hopes that’s soon.  
He could have a chance, too. He’s not exactly _ugly_ by any means.

”Tyler Robert!”  
He snaps his head up and away from all the daydreaming to earn a sharp smack on the side of his head.  
“Anyone up there?” His mother hisses, head still shaking in disappointment. “Swear ‘ta God, boy, y’wouldn’t hear me if I told ya y’were winnin’ a million dollars.”

”Sorry mama,” Tyler mumbles, fingers instinctively going to rub the soon-to-be bruised lump on the side of his head.

Kelly leaves the back door open for Josh, who shoots him a sort of pity glance.  
“Go show th’new boy ‘round, will ya? I gotta finish makin’ supper and y’daddy’s too busy.”

Oh, he thinks.  
This isn’t as bad as he thought.

•

The Joseph farm is truly a sight to behold. Beautiful, huge, and awfully full of crop that could make or break the bank, depending upon the year.

They have a garden that would make any grocery store weep; rows and rows of freshly grown vegetables, fruits and herbs adorn their backyard. It’s colorful and pure.  
“How is everything so..alive?” Josh asks, particularly interested in the veggies that seem to only grow during the fall months.

”Daddy makes a special fertilizer,” Tyler informs him, fingers plucking ripe strawberries from the vines. He offers a few to Josh and they take them on their way, tongues darting out to catch every drop of sweetened berry flesh that might miss.

”So you don’t buy anything? You grow and raise everything you eat?” Josh asks, mind racing as to how they’ve not made a killing with all of their quality livestock and produce.

Tyler simply nods and continues walking to the cattle pens, tossing strawberry stems as he goes.

He doesn’t talk much when he eats.

”S’impolite,” He says matter-of-factly after licking sticky red from his fingers. “Mama says a good boy don’t talk w’his mouth full.”

Josh passes cows that Tyler stops to pet every ten seconds, pens of chickens and roosters clucking away at each other.  
Really, everything Old McDonald would have in his children’s book.

”Do you not have pigs?” He asks while Tyler coos at a baby lamb.

The brunette seems to freeze for a second.  
“No.” He turns.

”We don’ eat pork.”

Josh frowns at the sudden seriousness, but shrugs it off as some weird religious thing.  
Maybe they were Jewish?

It’s brushed off without a second thought because Tyler’s moved on, still babbling about how much he adored the animals and how he just couldn’t bear it when his daddy would take them out back to slaughter them for meat.

Josh never does get to see the actual farm equipment.

•

”You can’t be from ‘round here,” Tyler finally says when they make it to the barn, musty and empty, really-only full of baled stacks of hay.  
“Y’too damn polite.”

Josh laughs at that, scratches the back of his neck and replies sheepishly.  
“Ah, no, I come from a very..” He clears his throat. “Prestigious family. They weren’t too happy when they found I was moving here to work as a farmhand.”

Tyler steps barefoot over dry ground and kicks up dust when he climbs atop a few hay bales.  
“Well I’m glad ya came,” He says with a cocked smile.

Josh squints up at him through the sunlight.  
“I am too.”

”I s’pose I should show you ‘round more,” Tyler drawls. “N’less you wanna have some fun?”

His legs kick into the points of stray straw in the bales and he sticks his tongue through his teeth in a classically playful banter style.  
Josh shrugs.  
“What counts as fun around here?”

”Oh,” Tyler draws out the vowel. “Fishin’, climbin’ trees, runnin’ in the fields I guess t’name a few..”  
He stops and smiles.

”We could play hide ‘n seek. If y’up for it.”

Josh genuinely laughs. “I don’t think I’ve played that since second grade, Tyler.” He’d like to meet with Chris, to actually discuss his, y’know, _job_.

The brunette shakes his head and swings his legs against the hay bale. It pokes into his exposed thighs and makes the backs of them red with irritation.  
“You ever play it in a cornfield?”

Josh tilts his head in confusion. “Can’t say I have.”

Tyler hops down from the hay bale and has Josh following behind him like a lost puppy in a matter of seconds.

He wonders how the brunette is so comfortable in nothing but a pair of denim shorts and a loose, patched up flannel. Of course, Josh was taught that any hard work practiced was to be done in full attire as to not put shame on any family.  
‘Course, he was never forced into any work and sought out odd-sometimes dirty-jobs all on his own.

His parents were mortified, to say the least.

“Y’slackin’,” Tyler chimes from in front of him. They’re faced with a field, stalks of corn just slightly taller than the both of them.  
“Ready?” He asks.

Josh purses his lips and nods with a half glance back at the lively house in the distance behind them.

Tyler takes his hands and covers his eyes with them for him, then sets off into the corn.  
Josh can hear his footsteps grow quieter with each rustling of the stalks.

In other words, he’s going to lose.  
But it never hurts to try, does it?

They both know one of them will be under the wrath of Kelly Joseph because right now Josh should be inspecting tractors and pulleys, not pushing through harvest-ready crop trying to find a giggling brunette destined to tie his heartstrings into a loop.

He’s sweating, sticky and swatting away tiny bugs stuck to the drooping green leaves when he thinks he hears a pair of delicate footsteps crinkling in the foliage below them.

”Lost, big boy?”  
Tyler’s behind him and startles him with a light touch on his shoulders.  
“I’ve got a lot ‘ta teach you.” He cocks his head and blows a stray stand of hair from his face.  
Josh melts.

It takes a lot of practice, but what seems like five minutes turns into hours of keeping a distance and pace that allows Josh to be the one creeping up on Tyler.  
The brunette squeals when he jumps, hand held over his heart like a faint woman.

”Josh!” He scolds, swatting a laughter-bounced shoulder. “Y’cant just do tha’! I got a bad heart.”

Josh stops laughing long enough to raise an eyebrow. “Bad heart?”  
Tyler straightens himself and pushes back a few corn stalks to poke a finger into his chest. “Got a pacemaker righ’ here. My mama said I was lucky ‘ta have lived through second grade.”

Josh frowns. “Oh.”

The brunette smirks a bit. “I was given a 25% chance of livin’, and here I am.” He says it proudly, tongue stuck between his teeth like a triumphant child.  
Josh will remember that.

”Well, I’m sorry,” He says sheepishly. “I’ll try not to scare you again.”

Tyler’s the one laughing now, a grin spread onto his face. “S’fine, big boy. I was jus’ teasin’ ya. Takes a whole lot worse to get me goin’.”

He leads Josh out of the field and sees a setting sun. He can already hear his mother calling for the both of them from their back porch.

”You stay here,” He tells Josh. “Act like ‘ya lookin’ at my daddy’s work tools or somethin’.”  
Josh does indeed that, albeit a bit unsatisfactory in terms of acting. (Mainly because he couldn’t find any tools to inspect.)

He can hear Tyler’s feminine drawl haphazardly explaining where they were and what they were doing. The sun blinds him from behind the trees surrounding the farm.

Tyler comes back in a huff, forehead damp with sweat. “Well c’mon! Y’gotta make up for messin’ around all day.”

Josh frowns. “But you were the one who-“  
He’s being led into the air-conditioned house before he can fully protest.

”So Josh,” Kelly starts talking before he’s even crossed the threshold. “What’d ‘ya think? Good quality farm for a young boy like y’self?”

Josh wipes his brow and tries to ignore the bent over form of Tyler rummaging through the fridge.  
“..Uh, yes ma’am. Gorgeous land you have here. I’m more than happy to be working on it.”

Kelly nods in knowing approval and continues to dish out bowls of spaghetti and meatballs.  
“Tyler, go call ‘ya daddy in, tell ‘m it’s time for supper.”

Tyler perks back up with a pitcher of lemonade in his grasp and sets it on the dining room table.  
“I figure Josh best be leavin’ soon,” He says it with longing.

”N’less y’wanna stay fr’dinner?”

Kelly shakes her head and scolds the brunette. “Tyler, do wh’I asked ‘ya to! Josh prob’ly got his own set of chores t’do at home. Now git.”

Tyler gives him one last doe-eyed look before he’s gone again, barefooted in the tall rows of grass on the hunt for his father.  
Josh tries not to stare.

”You too,” Kelly says. He starts and feels his face heat up a bit.  
“Go on home, boy. Chris’ll expect ‘ya here at 8 AM sharp, no later, no earlier. Understand?”

”Yes ma’am, thank you.” Josh nods. He feels out of place, for sure, and bit dumb because he didn’t really learn much from their shenanigans that day, and hopes that doesn’t come back to bite him tomorrow.

He starts out for his pickup and hears shouting from the fields far off to the north.  
He could’ve sworn one of those voices sounded like Tyler.

He thinks about the brunette on his way home, eyes focused on the dirt road in front of him.  
An interesting character for sure. Very feminine, dainty almost.

 _Flirty_ , one could say. Not that he doesn’t like that.

The sun is set by the time he makes it back to his house-a shabby thing, but not too awful for his position. His parents had refused to lend him any money on account of his “hillbilly agenda.”  
Nothing but buzzing mosquitoes greet him when his boots step over the threshold.

Josh dreams of rows and rows of cornfields, all taller than the last. He’s alone, but there’s the tiniest, most intricate voice trying to guide him in the distance.  
He gets lost anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment if u like this??? idk i wanted to try something new   
> lets have sum fun


	2. Chapter 2

8 AM comes slower than expected.

Josh has to drive way below the speed limit (if there even was one on such rural roads) to make it to the Joseph’s at exactly 8:00.  
He didn’t want to fuck up on his first official day of work, after all. 

It’s almost as if they figured he’d want to show up right on the dot, as there was a oddly comforting form stepping up to him just as he shut the door of his truck parked in their gravel driveway. 

“Mornin’ son,” He said, a well-worn hand stretched out to shake Josh’s. “I’m Chris Joseph, though m’wife probably already told ya more than plenty ‘bout me.” His face tells stories in the wrinkles it holds. His entire form radiates that of hard work and total dedication.

Josh nods, smiles and decides that this whole family had to have been some of the most welcoming people on the planet when he’s being lead out over pathways he remembers waking with Tyler the previous day.

”Now I know y’probably ‘spectin’ some rough manual labor, but f’now I’ve got one big job for ya to work on.”  
Josh is led to the desolate barn, and suddenly becomes aware of its peeling paint and worn-out attire. There’s cans of paint and brushes sat next to the doors.

”Ah, I see,” Josh nods. Chris continues as they walk the perimeter of the building.  
“This poor barn hasn’t been painted in years-I just haven’t had no time to get to it. I’d like ya t’scrape the old stuff off first, then put on the new coat. Should take ya all day just t’get the old off,” He explains.

Josh then has a fine scraping tool in his hand and is left to his own devices as he starts to chip away at the curling lead paint still stuck to the wood.

”I’ll be gettin’ ready for harvest, so if ya have any questions jus’ direct them towards m’wife, or even Tyler.”  
He added a quip under his breath as he walked away that Josh caught at the right moment.  
“Though m’sure that boy won’t be able t’keep his hands to ‘mself for much longer.”

Josh didn’t exactly know what he meant by that, but pretended not to hear and instead focused on the task he was given.  
And in the back of his mind he felt that he didn’t really care if Tyler got a little physical.

Then immediately scolded himself.

•

Tyler indeed makes an appearance.

He’s in a more flowing outfit this time, something definitely feminine.  
But it fits him.

A thin button-down tank underneath what could only be described as a cardigan. (Kimono, maybe?) It’s floral, covered in carnations glowing the same color as the ones growing in Mrs. Joseph’s window boxes.

He’s barefoot again, toes stepping on stones next to the pathways.  
He greets Josh with a glass of lemonade.

”My mama told me t’come out here ‘n give this to ya,” He says, eyelashes fluttering in the heat over his eyes.  
“Also came t’check on ya ‘n stuff.”

Josh takes the glass happily, murmurs a thanks and downs almost the whole thing in one take.  
He’d been working for hours, fingers starting to blister from the tool in his hands. Chips of old paint litters the grass around him and the perimeter of the barn. Some is caked in his hair, on his damp skin.

”You work real fast,” Tyler muses. “Faster than our last boy.”

Josh raises and eyebrow and sets the empty glass down gently. It’s dirtied from his hands and condensation rolls down like the sweat soaking his back.  
“You’ve had others?” He asks.

Tyler nods, fingers playing in the fabric resting by his knees. It flows in the soft summer breeze and he looks so, so innocent.  
“Name was Patrick, but he didn’t last very long.”

Before Josh can question what he means his face screws up and he rephrases it.  
“Couldn’t keep up,” He says, then shakes his head. “Daddy said he wa’nt fit for our farm.”

Josh nods in some form of understanding.

”I guess I can see where he’s coming from. It can be pretty tough work.”

Tyler seats himself on one of the old crates pushed up against the barn (that Josh will have to move soon.)  
“So,” He elongates the vowel at the end. “You wanna take a break or somethin’?”

Josh wipes a bead of sweat from his brow and pushes up against the grain of the wood, slowly peeling a long strip of paint from its place.  
“I don’t really think I should. Last time I let you lead me around we were stuck in the cornfield for hours.” He laughs.

Tyler hums for a bit, chewing on the inside of his cheek.  
“Well. It’d only be f’a ‘lil bit.”

”Does your mother or father want me to?”

Tyler shakes his head sadly. ”But _I_ want ya t’take a break. W’me.”

Josh laughs at that and finally finishes the last plank of vertical wood, leaving the barn looking naked, except for the roof.  
“You think your father would be very happy if he found out that I snuck off with his son to go frolic in the summer breeze instead of finishing his barn that he’s _paying_ me to paint?” He phrases it quite sarcastically, head tilted towards the brunette.

He walks back through the tall weeds and hears Tyler follow close behind.  
“I dunno.” He stops. “Maybe not.”  
He pauses as if he’s thinking more.  
“Y’not gonna tell ‘m, are ya?”

”I _could_ ,” Josh jokingly, exaggerating the sentence.  
He dips down to grab the new paint can but is interrupted by Tyler grabbing his shoulder and turning him around hard.

”You wouldn’t,” He looks genuinely scared now, eyes wide and searching his frantically. He says it as if he’s trying to figure out if Josh was serious or not. (Which he thought he’d made clear?) “Please. I didn’ mean it, Josh, y’wouldn’t snitch on me, would ya?”

He’s so terrified it genuinely shakes Josh’s demeanor. He softens and shakes his head, frowning.  
“Tyler, hey,” He says quietly. “I-I’m not going to say anything, okay? I was just joking.”

The brunette steps back, swallowing. He grimaces like he’s scolding himself.  
“Right.”  
He fiddles with the ends of his cardigan. “‘M sorry.”

Josh watches him closely. “Are you scared of your father? Is he strict or something?”

Tyler looks around as if someone could jump out of the grass at any second.  
“Yeah,” He admits.

He’s still pale, still on edge and jumpy.  
Josh tells him that it’s okay more times than he can count and continues to open the new can of paint.

Tyler finally seems to be at rest when he watches him start to layer on the paint in thick brush strokes onto the wood.

It’s red, but a shade he’s almost never seen before. It’s very heavy, very..dark.  
Josh doesn’t think this is the accustomed hue that he usually sees on barns, but doesn’t think too much of it.  
He can feel Tyler’s chocolate eyes boring into his side as he makes sure to cover every last splinter.

It’s too quiet. Like the bugs themselves have stopped chirping for this moment.

Some would say romantically, it’s the perfect setting for love. Josh calls it tiring and sticky.

Tyler sucks on the pad of his thumb and seems to never blink.

•

By the time Chris comes back to check on him, Tyler seemed like the whole incident had never happened.

He showed not a speck of fear or resentment towards his father and spoke happily, respectfully  
His eye contact with Josh was greatly decreased.

Josh frowns when they leave for the house together, both shouting their own farewells as supper is ready and it’s almost time for him to head home.

He sets the paintbrush on his side, tilted against the now-sealed paint can.  
Certainly an interesting family, he thought, the more he got to know them.

A dark little growing idea in the back of his head tells him that Tyler might be scared of his parents for good reason, but he shrugs it off quicker than he could register it.

He’s got to go home anyways. His shoulders hurt and his hands ache with newly formed blisters soon to be calloused onto his palms.  
_This is the life you moved here for,_ he can hear his parents saying.

When he starts his pickup he can almost hear the sound of shouting again, just like yesterday.  
He sticks a finger in his ear and decides he’s probably just hearing the cicadas crying out into the sunset.

What would they be yelling about, anyway?

The sound of bleating sheep and rumbling cows is what orchestrates his ride home.

It’s unadulterated bliss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback is not only appreciated but needed as i am Insecure


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me 3 million years to write im sorry
> 
> josh is starting to pine lmao working with a lil slut babe got him two weeks deep into a fake relationship

“Well, that’sa damn shame.” 

Josh is shielding his eyes from the sun with a hand, eyes staring down at the carcass of a dead calf sunken into the grass.

It has started decomposing, it’s fur almost stuck to the earth below it.  
The place where it’s eyes should’ve been were just blood-blackened holes.

Josh is holding his breath, trying to figure out what could’ve slit the throat of such an innocent creature and leave the entire body to rot.

”Coyotes,” Chris says, as if he could read Josh’s thoughts. “Wolves, even, maybe. Damn things.” He mutters under his breath and shakes his head in disappointment.

”They kill for sport like that?” Josh asks, frowning. “I’ve never seen that sort of behavior in animals.”

Chris turns a large shovel in his hands and clicks his tongue. “Y’haven’t seen th’animals we got, boy.” He begins to scrape the calf remains from the ground until it leaves nothing but dead grass below it.

”What about the eyes?” Josh questions again. “That’s the only thing they didn’t leave.”  
Chris ignores him and instead tells him not to let Tyler see any of this.

”He gets awfully upset when any of th’animals die. Keep ‘m distracted while I bury the damn thing, will ya?”

Josh closes his mouth and just nods. It’s best not to keep pressing, he assumes.

”Kelly’s got a few tasks for ya,” Chris says over his shoulder. “I’d go find Tyler then take ‘m with ya.”

Josh nods again and heads off, stepping over the fenced-in area where the cows roamed freely.  
A few moo behind him, almost as a farewell.

He tries to forget the image of the calf, so peacefully laying. He’d have thought it was sleeping if the gash in its throat wasn’t so gaping.  
The lack of eyes really stuck with him.

He’s got to forget about it now, though, because he needs to find Tyler and Kelly. One was probably easier to accomplish than the other.

And as it turns out, finding the brunette was a lot easier than Josh once thought.

As he’s walking back to the Joseph household, Tyler is spotted out of the corner of his eye..on the hood of his pickup.  
He’s sitting cross-legged, wearing nothing but a pair of (really) tight shorts. His eyes are closed, like he’s meditating or..maybe napping?

”Tyler?”

Josh raises an eyebrow when he approaches the brunette. “Are you okay?”

Tyler’s eyes open and he smiles. “M’fine!”

He adjusts himself and sits up, holding out a bottle of what looks like suntan lotion.  
“Y’mind helping me a bit?”

Josh is so confused he actually laughs. “Tanning cream? I think you’re pretty tan as it is, wouldn’t you agree?”  
He rests a hand on the hood of his truck and feels just how hot it is, and wonders how the brunette could be sat so peacefully on it.

”What d’ya mean by that?” Tyler perks up at that, cocking his head. “Jus’ ‘cause I’m half lesbian don’t mean I can’t get s’more color on m’skin.”

Josh is giving him his full attention now, quite confused. He’s trying to think of an ethnicity that sounded like, well, _lesbian_ , but still had the same skin tones as Tyler did.

He finally comes up with it and frowns.  
“Don’t you mean Lebanese?” He asks, carefully pronouncing the word.

Tyler stares at his fingernails. “That’s wha’ I said.”

Josh opens his mouth to speak and decides it’s fruitless to try and argue.

”Now,” The brunette interrupts, swinging down from the hood of Josh’s truck.  
“Are y’gonna help me or not?”

Josh stares at the bottle of suntan lotion in his hand and shrugs. “I guess I can.”

Then Tyler’s bent over the front of his truck, hips jutting out while Josh’s fingers press lightly onto his shoulders while cool lotion massaged into his skin.  
It’s definitely a position Josh did not think he’d ever be in.

It’s purely innocent, at least for now.  
He hopes.

He can feel Tyler’s waist move a bit-from side to side-and there’s muffled noises of content coming from below.  
“Tha’s real good,” He says into the crook of his arms. “Y’do this often?”

Josh tells him no and he giggles a bit.

He’s nearly sleeping, so warm and relaxed that when Josh is finished he’s almost asleep on the hood of his truck.  
Josh hands him back the bottle of lotion and he stretches, earning a quiet laugh.

”You’ve got a little imprint,” Josh grins.

There’s a divot in Tyler’s cheek, one made by the hood designs on the truck. He’d been laying on them for so long it had stuck the swirls onto his face.

He shrugs sleepily and hops back onto the hood. “Y’mind if I take a ‘lil nap righ’ here while I tan? S’so warm.”

”Well,” Josh scratches the back of his neck. “Your father told me to take you with me, since your mom apparently has some chores for me-us to do.”

Tyler’s alert at that, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Th’garden!” He shouts, and is off towards the back porch of the house before Josh can say another word, the dreams of burning a fresh new tan into his skin long forgotten.

And so Josh is left in the dust, left to steadily walk back to the house and get the tasks he was meant to do, then go find Tyler again.

But really? He doesn’t mind.

•

”Pick th’weeds, till the carrot patch, make sure ya get Chris’s fertilizer from th’barn-Tyler’ll tell ya where that is..”

Josh is spaced out, watching Kelly scribble out a list of finely tuned chores for him in loopy cursive.  
“Is that all, ma’am?” He asks afterwards, and thoroughly regrets it because she then remembers more tasks and hastily writes them down, too.

At least he got paid by the hour-and weekly, too.

When he trudges out to the garden, Tyler is already sat between rows of tomato plants, looking up through the vines like he was trying to find something.

”Tyler?” Josh stops at the dirt pathways.  
It feels like he’s always finding this boy in the weirdest places and positions.

Tyler ignores him, reaches up to cup something carefully on the leaves of a plant next to him, and stands with dirt stuck to his legs.

”Look,” He murmurs.  
It’s a ladybug, trapped in the palm of his hand.

”Pretty,” Josh observes.

”Y’supposed to make a wish,” The brunette says matter-of-factly.  
“Don’ y’know lovebugs are good luck?”

”Lovebugs,” Josh nods. “I’ve always called them ladybugs, but I like that name.”  
Tyler smiles and brings the bug close to his face.

He screws his face up, and after a moment blows on it gently, stirring it enough for it to fly away into the dull summer air.  
He then wipes his hands as if he’s done a great deed.

”What’d ya wish for?” He asks Josh, eyes still trying to follow the tiny red body buzzing off in the distance.

Josh blinks surprisedly. “Oh. Nothing, I guess. I didn’t know I had to wish, too.”  
He shrugs. “What did you wish for?”

Tyler laughs at him like he’s a curious child.  
“I can’t _tell ya_!” He says. “If I told ya, it wouldn’t come true.”

”Why’d you ask about what I wished for, then?”

He smiles. “Jus’ teasin’ ya.”

Josh chuckles softly, shaking his head as he takes out the list Kelly has given him, the first tick at the top being to prune the tomato plants.

”Wha’s that?” Tyler asks, peeking over Josh’s arms.

”The list of tasks your mother gave me to do,” He replies. “See anything exciting?”

Tyler loses a bit of his bubbly persona at that, and steps away.  
“Oh,” He chews his lip. “No, I can’t-y’know..read.”

Josh frowns. “Your parents never taught you? Did you ever go to school?”

The brunette shakes his head. “Mama said I didn’t need ‘ta. I lived here m’whole life w’just me ‘n mama ‘n daddy.”

He swings back on the balls of his feet, eyes still peeking at the words scribbled on the chore list.

Josh folds it back up and sticks it in his pocket.  
“I could teach you, if you’d like?”

Tyler shakes his head frantically. “No, no, daddy would never forgive ya. Says tha’ I don’ deserve education.”  
He’s so bright Josh feels bad that he doesn’t know the most simple of human necessities.

”Why would he say that?” He asks. He really should be getting to work right now-the sun is beginning to set.

”Dunno. I-“

”Tyler Robert!”

The brunette nearly jumps out of his skin at the gruff voice calling for him. He steps out from the rows of plants and Josh hears a hard sound of skin hitting skin.

”What did I tell ya, boy? You stay away from him, y’hear? He don’t need y’rascal ass botherin’ him while he’s workin’, understand?”

”Yes, daddy,” Can be quietly heard over the sniffling.

That doesn’t make sense, Josh thinks.  
Chris had asked him to take Tyler with him, so why was he so upset when he found them together?

Chris doesn’t come back after escorting Tyler back to the house, so Josh simply starts the work he was given and is done by what looks like 9:00, telling by the sky above him.

It’s cooler now, and fireflies buzz around him when he walks through the tall grass back to his pickup.

The lights in the house are still on. He can just barely make out the outline of what looks like Tyler in the tallest window.  
He’s crouched, head buried in his knees.

Josh feels bad for him. He wouldn’t have gotten in trouble if he’d just let him stay and tan on his truck’s hood.  
And speaking of which, he finds the bottle of suntan lotion still resting on the cool metal.

He tosses it in the passenger seat next to him and reminds himself to give it back tomorrow.

No one comes out of the house to give him a goodbye when his truck roars to life.

 _Must be busy,_ he thinks.

There’s a small fire in the distance that curls smoke into the star-studded air. He watches it almost the whole ride home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> voting time what sex thing should happen first:
> 
> blowjob or ass eating  
> u decide
> 
> or me decide if I want a different outcome bc fuck im the author


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tylers got a fat ass no homo

Tyler doesn’t talk much for the next week. 

Josh barely sees him-he’ll only catch glimpses of the brunette through windows or from a distance.  
He looks a little...sunken in, to say the least.

When asked about it, Chris waves it off and avoids the question. 

Kelly, however, was a little more forgiving.

Josh is in the kitchen with her, helping make lunch. It’s not exactly the thing that came to mind when he took this job-cutting and washing vegetables-but it’s better than being out in the blistering sun.

”Tyler’s a sweet boy,” Kelly tells him when asked. “He’s real sensitive, though y’prolly already seen tha’ firsthand.”

Josh nods, fingers scrubbing dirt off of freshly picked carrots. There seemed to be some sort of sticky substance clinging to the vegetable, like the soil itself was glued to its skin.

”Chris jus’ wants th’best for ‘m,” Kelly continued. “He means all the best when he’s hard on th’poor boy. He’s th’only one left y’know.”  
She sighed pitifully.  
“All his siblings went off ‘n started different lives, different jobs. He jus’ couldn’t bear to leave us.”

Josh opens his mouth to ask another question, but as if on cue, the brunette is stepping through the screen door, gaze still locked outside on something.

”Afternoon, dear,” Kelly greets.  
Tyler stumbles a bit when he sees Josh and mumbles a “hi, mama,” to his mother.

”Whatcha after?” She asks, eyebrows furrowing at her son’s shaken state.

”I-um,” He shakes his head, swallowing nervously. “Josh.”

”My-My daddy needs ya.”

Josh puts down what he’s doing and smiles softly. “Right. Uh-just let me wash up real quick and I’ll be out in a sec okay?”  
Tyler fiddles with his fingers and nods.

It’s a bit awkward, to say the least, when they’re walking out together, back into the sweltering heat.  
Tyler keeps his gaze down and chews on his lip.

When they’re out of earshot of the house, Josh takes the brunette aside.  
“Hey,” He says quietly. “Are you okay?”

Tyler breathes a little quicker. “M’fine.”

”You’re sure?” Josh tries not to notice the tiny bruises that litter tanned skin. Or the scars that peek through his shorts.

”Hi daddy,” Tyler says, and it’s Josh’s turn to be scared because Chris is stalking up to them, wiping his hands off with a grease-stained rag.

”Josh,” He says gruffly. “Need ya t’stop fooling ‘round ‘n get to actual work.”  
Josh straightens and clears his throat. “Right, I-I’m sorry, sir. Your wife just..asked for some help in the kitchen.”

Chris mutters something about pansies and leads Josh back to the barn, where giant farm equipment was open and full of dripping oil and humming gears.  
“I need ya t’go out and walk the crops,” Chris says, almost as if it’s a punishment. “Every row, every stalk. Understand? Y’see anythin’ out of place and you tell me.”

Josh tries not to feel weighted down by the thought of walking through waist-high corn stalks in blistering weather for hours on end.

Until he sees Tyler wandering near the garden.

”Tyler!” He calls out, heart rising a bit.  
His gaze is met with a frightened one, a shameful one, almost.

He beckons him with a finger and smiles.  
“You wanna help me walk crops? I figure it might go faster and be more fun if there were two of us,” He says when the brunette is padding over to him, looking from side to side just in case his father was within earshot.

”M’allowed to?” Tyler asked, head cocked. “Won’t y’get in trouble w’my daddy?”

Josh waved his worries off with a hand.  
“It’ll be fine, I’m sure.”  
He added with another thought. “I want to get to know you better, y’know, since we’ll be around each other a lot.”

That caused a blush to rise on Tyler’s cheeks and spread down to the patchy scar on his chest where his pacemaker sat, probably reacting to the sped up beat of his lovesick heart.

”I guess I can, then,” He mumbles shyly, daring to smile.  
Josh feels himself feeling a little too giddy with love when he sees a sliver of gladness coming from the brunette.

It broke his heart to see such a beautiful creature so sunken in and scared.

It’s then that they’re off, bumping along in Josh’s truck to nothing but buzzing cicadas and Tyler’s curious eyes as he gazes out at clouds of gravel dust and blue skies.

”You don’t get out often,” Josh says.

Tyler nods at the assumption with his jaw slack, pupils blown at the landscape he’s never gotten to see fully, even though it belonged to his very own family.

”S’pretty,” Is all he says, blinking soft in the slowly setting sunlight.  
Josh can’t help but stare when he can.

•

”So.”

Josh stands, scratching the back of his neck. “What are some common abnormalities in corn?”

”What was tha’ word?” Tyler frowns, eyebrows furrowed.  
They both look into the fields of growing corn stalks, green and (mostly) healthy.

”Oh,” Josh says, scolding himself. “I mean, y’know, what are some weird things, I guess? Like um..”

”Like bugs ‘n stuff?” Tyler answers for him, kneeling in the soft grass just above the field. He holds the thick leaves that hang from corn stalks in his palm and shows tiny white bugs that cling to the green.

”Right,” Josh echoes. “Bugs and stuff.”

It’s not as boring as once thought-wandering corn fields, listening to Tyler’s mindless babbles. He talks about everything he loves and more.  
Mainly about the animals.

”I jus’ hate when daddy’s gotta butcher the baby calves,” He pouts, fingers trailing along the silk peeking over the adolescent stalks. “I dunno why he does it, either. Never tells me nothin’.”

Josh finds that odd.  
“Maybe they’re sick?” He offers. Tyler tells him the animals in their pastures never get sick.

The topic is thrown away, however, when a different type of bug is shown to the brunette.  
“Josh, stop!”

He obeys, albeit a bit surprised.  
“What’s the matter?” He’s frozen, face contorted into confusion.

Tyler disappears under the corn and pops back up holding something in his hands, hair already full of loose corn silk.

”Another lovebug,” He murmurs.

It’s tiny, a baby at most, crawling around happily in the palm of his hand. Josh steps closer and squints down at it.

”Are you gonna make a wish?”

Tyler shakes his head. “S’your wish.”

And then their gazes meet, much to Josh’s surprise over a _ladybug_ , big doe eyes locked on his.

”Josh?”  
It’s said softly, because _God_ , they’re so close. The ladybug’s already flown away, long gone and forgotten.

All that matters now are the gentle hands pulling their waists together because they’re _kissing_ in warm heat with tiny whimpers and calmed breathes.

Tyler fists his hands in a damp work shirt, fingers twisting when they break apart.  
“Is that-“ Josh starts. “Is that okay?”

Tyler’s lips press harder against his the second time as a confirmation.

It’s weird, the little voice in the back of Josh’s brain says, to be making out with the son of his employer in their very own cornfield, but he’s been pining over Tyler for too long to not let that moment be taken advantage of.

”You mean it?” Tyler says quiet, nose brushing against his.

”Mean what?”

”This,” He replies, gesturing to their faces. “Y’wanted t’kiss me?”

Josh lets out a breathy laugh. “Yes,” He says, smiling. “ _Yes._ ”

Tyler giggles, hands thrown around his neck lazily.  
“Well then, what now, big boy? I don’ think y’really wanna finish walkin’ the corn, do ya?”

He yelps in surprise when Josh lifts him up, hands reaching up underneath the loose flannel he wears.  
Still, he can’t believe this.

The line of formaility is broken between them-if it wasn’t already-when they reach the bed of Josh’s truck.  
Tyler’s laid out, arms above his head in a lazy stretch that turns into a whine when Josh’s _mouth_ starts doing more than his hands.

”Josh,” He gasps, feeling a heated pair of lips ghost over his scars. “This y’first time?”

Josh has one hand fumbling with the buttons of those high-waisted shorts, the other smoothing up and down the tanned skin of Tyler’s side. “Can’t say it is, love.”

”What if I told ya s’mine?”

Something _deviously_ dirty stirs inside of Josh.

He leans down, lips pressed to the shell of Tyler’s ear. He can feel his cheekbones tensing up in an excited smile.

”I guess I’ll have to teach you all I know, huh?”

He earns a delighted squeal followed by lighthearted laughing, Tyler’s thighs raising up-almost as if he’s presenting himself, _fuck_ -when Josh’s eyebrows raise at what he sees.  
“These yours?” He asks lowly, looking up with dark eyes over the, well, _panties_ hugging Tyler’s hips.

”My sister’s,” The brunette answers, bucking up a tad. “She left ‘em-they fit so nice, don’t they?”

Josh just shakes his head, chuckling, and tells him how much nicer it’d be when they’re off.

That makes Tyler shiver, body glistening with sweat. They’re so close, much too clothed. When Josh’s shirt is unbuttoned and discarded Tyler sits himself up and buries his eager fingers in smooth, toned skin.

”S’pretty,” He quips, tugging at the hair at the nape of Josh’s neck. He’s nestled on a heated lap, trailing his touch further down until they’re both gasping.

”You think you can-” Josh asks, referring to the obvious _problem_ in Tyler’s hand.  
“Think you can use your mouth for me?”

Tyler’s eyes go dark, hips shifting. He nods.  
“Figure it can’t be ‘ny harder than a popsicle, huh?”

That makes Josh groan, head tilting back and fingers tangling in delicate chestnut curls.  
_Yes,_ Tyler does know how to use his mouth.

He comes quicker than he usually would-and gets a little embarrassed, even. Blowjobs were nothing for him most of the time.  
But it’s the sight of Tyler, tears pricking his big pretty eyes, cheeks flushed, lips swollen and chapped with the taste of him on them that just drives him over the edge in minutes.

Tyler sits up, wipes his chin and adjusts himself.  
“Now what? You gonna help me out a ‘lil bit?” He sits back, legs spreading.

And oh lord, does Josh help him.

•

Its funny, afterwards.

The ride home is mainly silent, occasionally accompanied by Tyler’s soft humming.  
He seems a lot happier now. Josh certainly is, anyway.

Something itches in the back of his mind, though. Something that tells him that shouldn’t have happened.

They bump along the dirt road back to the farm and all Josh can think about is the warm scent of Tyler enveloping him over and over and over.  
He’s really a gorgeous lover.

But now is the time for nonchalantness, for buttoned-up flannels and fixed zippers because the second they hop out from the truck Chris is striding towards them with a taller man, dirty with grease, sporting a thick head of black hair.  
He has a boyish grin and kind eyes.

”Josh,” Chris starts, eyes not even meeting Josh’s. He shoots Tyler a look that plainly states _”we’ll talk later.”_ “This is Brendon Urie, our neighbor a couple acres down. He occasionally comes up t’buy our produce.”

Josh shakes his hand and tries not to think of where his fingers were just moments before all this.  
It’s hard not to blush.

Brendon nods a greeting to Tyler.  
“Nice to see you got a strong, hard-working boy like this on your farm, Chris,” He says. “‘Course, he night just be takin’ your place in a few years, huh?” He laughs at the joke, nudging Chris’s arm.

Yet he sees to be the only one not amused.

”Right-I’ll go get y’lot,” He says, lips pressed together.

”I’ll help ya, daddy.” Tyler volunteers and is padding off behind his father submissively before Josh could get a second glance from him.

”So,” He says, desperate to get that brunette angel off his mind for at least a minute. “Do you enjoy living around here? So secluded and everything?”

Brendon grins. “‘Course! My wife Sarah ‘n I, we’re expecting-hopefully a boy-and I just couldn’t imagine a better place to raise a child.” He beams at Josh’s congratulations.

His smile then fades. “Though, I’d stay on your toes ‘round here.”  
Josh cocks an eyebrow.

”Chris..” He starts, then shakes his head. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”  
Josh frowns. “What is it?” He asks, curious.

Brendon leans in, biting his lip. “Well, rumor is, the Josephs have got..secrets.“ Brendon starts.

”I’ve been here as long as they have, and lemme tell you, I always know if something fishy is going on-“

He jumps when Chris claps his shoulder from behind.

”Got everythin’ for ya right here,” He says with faux friendliness. “Tell Sarah we said get well soon.”

Brendon takes the paper bags of produce, frowning like the last bit didn’t make sense, and nods appreciatingly. “Thanks again,” He says curtly, then nods a farewell to Josh and Tyler, who’s nestled behind his father, almost scared.

Josh sees fear in his eyes and remembers his warning.  
Was he scared of Chris? Of the family? They seemed so welcoming, so kind.

And the last of Brendon Josh sees is his battered pickup bumbling down the road, heading east.

”Well,” Chris claps his hands together and it’s then that Josh notices a faint purple mark starting to appear on Tyler’s face, below his left eye.

He stares and Tyler shakes his head before Chris turns to give him a look.

Josh’s focus is broken by his new orders. He’s supposed to clean the stables. Were the crops healthy? He wonders why they took so long. Right. Right. Everything swirls around at once.

Then he’s free.

His feet take him to the destination but his mind still lingers by Tyler’s quiet form.  
Had Chris found out? Did he hit Tyler as some sort of punishment?  
Maybe he was just imagining things. It _was_ quite hot out. Colors always messed together in the summer. Could’ve been a shadow.

Tyler doesn’t come see him for the rest of the day. He doesn’t toddle up, head cocked with that beautiful grin painting his face. In fact, none of the Joseph family is seen at all, and Josh leaves as soon as his watch says 10:00.

He sits in a lot of silence for the rest of the day, but the night cradles him in a symphony of nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quickly and poorly written smut by yours truly brought to you by procrastination and the need for speedy plot lines


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aw shit sorry guys

Josh is happier over the next few weeks. 

Tyler’s warmed back up to him again, (it feels like every time Chris is around the two of them the brunette disassociates until Josh makes an effort to rekindle their..relationship) always chatting and following him around while he works.

Of course, there are the other perks, as well.

It’s not like he tries to take advantage of it, the secret romance him and Tyler have, but damn if he doesn’t get a rush at the feeling of the dirty adultery surrounding them when him and Tyler are sneaking off to make out behind barns, sheds, in pastures-just about anywhere they knew it’d be hard to get caught.

Once, Tyler was scraping his knees against old hay, too trained on nearly sucking the life out of Josh through his dick, when they almost got caught by Chris.

Of course, Tyler hadn’t stopped. 

Josh pretended he was looking for tools, just out of sight enough that Chris didn’t come looking for him, despite his strained voice. He’s lucky it worked out in his favor or he fears he might not even _have_ a dick anymore.

Long story short, Tyler was a _tease._

So yes, he’s not in a necessarily bad place right now. 

Not until he’s driving to work, almost two weeks after meeting the neighbor, Brendon, who gave him a warning about secrets and odd tellings concerning the Joseph family. 

It sticks in the back of his head for that time, simply because he couldn’t seem to find anything suspicious about the family. Some interesting quirks, sure, but that just seemed to be their country charm.  
Maybe Josh was just too much of a city boy to realize.

Nothing seems unusual-and he makes sure to check just in case-the same fields, the same roads, the same gravel dust sifting through his windows into his lap. 

The same..scarecrows? 

He doesn’t remember seeing any of those in Chris’s fields.

So he stops, out of pure curiosity, on the side of the road just a few blocks from the property, eyebrows furrowed. Chris surely would’ve told him if something like scarecrows were now mandatory in the fields because hell, he’d probably be the one to install them all.

It stands tall, dressed like how any normal scarecrow would be, flannel colors, straw hat, bits and pieces of the stuff poking through the clothes.

The only thing that throws everything off is the face Josh recognizes. 

It’s Brendon.  
Dead.

Hung like a sickening totem, arms nailed to boards and legs tied to the base, he rots.

Where his eyes would’ve been are two gouged hoes, oozing congealed blood that has since erupted itself from his mouth and nose as well. 

All Josh can think about are the dead calves Chris would have him scoop out of the fields. Claves and sheep. All with their throats ripped open, all without eyes.

He hyperventilates at first, stomach twisting into so many knots because he couldn’t figure out what was worse, the smell or the sight. 

He’s vomiting before he can make a decision, knelt down in the soft grass with nothing but waves of pain and grief washing over him. 

It’s disgusting. Truly a crime for only someone as sick and twisted as those horrid serial killers Josh always heard about as a child. People who would eat other people and mutilate their bodies in awful ways. 

This wasn’t right. It wasn’t humane. And it wasn’t an accident, that’s for damn sure. Josh was meant to see this. He knows little to no one travels on this road besides him.

When he’s standing on uneasy feet again, he takes the time to really study this. 

He can’t figure out how exactly Brendon had died until he sees the large gash marks buzzing with flies around his throat. A knitted scarf lazily tries to cover it up, matching the scarecrow garb entirely. 

He covers his nose with his shirt, eyes drinking in the puncture wounds on his hands, his forearms.  
This happened days ago. How did he not notice? 

The body has been rotting for a while, much too long in the humid summer air. Pieces of flesh and organs dripping down and off the post and into the crops below.  
The wood is stained red. 

Josh has to revert back to his truck before the rest of his breakfast comes up.

He’s in shock. He’s shaking and honestly about to have a panic attack. 

He thinks about Brendon’s wife-Sarah, he remembers her name being. They were expecting a child. 

His eyes well up when he thinks of the now widowed woman and father-less child.  
Who would do something like this?

When he arrives to the house, he’s tripping over his feet to make it inside.  
Chris is sitting at the dining room table, enjoying what looks like a bologna sandwich. Tyler is helping his mother with dishes and Josh is a fucking mess. 

“Josh, my goodness, y’as pale as a ghost, dear! What’s happened?” Kelly doesn’t question his sudden apppearance and instead rushes over, touching his forehead with the back of her hand. 

Josh swallows, feeling woozy. “Brendon is dead, ma’am.” 

Chris stiffens. “How do you know?” He asks, eyes narrowed. “I don’ take these kind of practical jokes lightly, son-“

“I-“ He shakes his head. “I’m not making it up, sir, I-I found him in your field.” 

Tyler is frozen, face sunken into a look of grief. He stares at his father with...betrayal, almost?

Chris stands, wiping his hands on his work trousers.  
“Take me to where ya found him.”

Kelly frets for longer than she should’ve, but Josh finally waves her off enough to lead Chris down their gravel road to the field now sprouted with young stalks of corn tall enough to reach Josh’s shoulders.

In fact, now that he thinks about it, this was the exact field him and Tyler first kissed in.  
Something about that makes him shudder seeing what was there now.

Chris stands and stares, hard-faced.  
“Tha’s certainly gruesome, boy,” He agrees.

Josh is swallowing down bile and just manages to choke out, “What are we going to do?”

“Go back t’the house, tell Kelly to call th’sheriff and then to Sarah’s to let her know what happened,” Chris sighs. “I’ll get him down.”

Josh is glad to be gone from the scene.

Kelly is dabbing at her eyes with a tissue when she knows that everything is true, and tries not to choke up while on the phone with law enforcement.

”Tyler,” She says, earning the attention of the quiet boy. “Take Josh out y’two get a head start for Sarah’s. I’ll give her a call to let her know we’re comin’.”

They’re silent. They walk in step down the driveway and it’s only when the house is out of sight that Tyler slips his hand into Josh’s.

”I’m sorry,” He says. “I know you probably knew him well.”

Tyler stares at the ground and looks like he’s having conflicting emotions.  
“I suppose,” He answers.

The rest of the way is full of soft touches and the occasional kiss, that Tyler just didn’t seem to be completely into.

They’re broken apart once they reach Brendon’s house. It’s a dark abode, with trees shading the front lawn.  
A woman swollen with a baby sits in a rocking chair on the front porch, looking frazzled.

”Tyler,” She says. Josh assumes this is Sarah. Her deep brunette hair is pulled into a bun, eyes ringing with bags and bloodshot whites.

”Hi, miss Sarah,” Tyler says politely.

”And who’re you?” She asks Josh, squinting through the sunlight.

They step up to the porch and Josh shakes her hand.  
“I work for the Joseph’s, ma’am, my name’s Josh,” He states simply.

Sarah nods, still confused. “So why’re you boys here? Did you happen to find out somethin’ about Brendon? Kelly told me she’d be visiting but I didn’t expect you two as well.”

Tyler is the one to break the news. He’s soft about it, his words gentle on her breaking heart.

”No,” She says at first, head shaking. “That’s not him. He’d never-“ She squeezes her eyes shut, almost in realization. “I knew he shouldn’t have..”

She’s rising with difficulty, her young face looking even more worn as a mask of grief lays itself upon her.  
It’s solemn and grueling until Kelly gets there. Sarah doesn’t burst into loud sobs, or throw herself down in mourning.

She’s empty, eyes cold and glassy and filled with nothing but longing. Regret, maybe. Like she already knew the fate of her husband and was just too determined to let it be true in her heart.

Only a woman’s touch could cure something like this, and when Kelly arrives her caring nature is already underway.

She ushers the widow inside, cooing assurance and setting a kettle on the stove for tea. Josh stands with his hands in his pockets, eyes trained on the ground.

”Y’don’t have to act like y’don’t know me,” Tyler starts, out of earshot from the women in the house.

”I-what?”

He shakes his head. “N’ytime we’re ‘round anyone y’get all shy w’me.”

”Tyler, is this really something to be talking about right now?” Josh asks, voice pitching up at the end.  
“Don’t you think we should be getting back?”

Tyler glances inside the house for a moment, as if pondering whether to go in, then starts off ahead of Josh.

”Guess y’right,” He says.

•

”Damn coyotes. Had t’be.”

Josh is invited for dinner that night.

”That’s who..?” He asks, cocking and eyebrow at Chris from across the table.  
Kelly has prepared some sort of meatloaf, and Josh has never eaten anything like it before, but it’s a good thing. Very interesting taste.

Tyler sits beside him and picks at the corn on his plate with a fork, too quiet to comment.

”There’s no other way,” Chris continues, mouth full. “Y’see how all the herds were killed like tha’? He was done th’same damn way. No eyeballs.”

Josh nods. It was shockingly similar.

”What about the scarecrow thing?” He asks, sensing the uncomfortable vibes this conversation was throwing around. Kelly looked undisturbed but kept to herself.

”Teenagers, or somebody,” Chris replied. “Nasty tricks they play in these parts. They got no souls, I swear.”

”Who could’ve done it?” Tyler blurts out, eyes ringed with red. “S’not fair, daddy, mister Brendon was a good man! He was gonna be a daddy!” He chokes on a sob, hands clenched into fists.

The outburst makes Kelly lift her head in shock.  
“Tyler Robert Joseph! To y’room, _now._ Y’know better than to shout at th’dinner table.”

Tyler opens and closes his mouth like he’s about to retaliate before sighing in defeat.

He still stomps his way up the stairs angrily to prove his point, and suddenly the space next to Josh is airy and cold.

”Old workers o’mine,” Chris says after the brunette has slumped up the stairs, answering the question said so fiercely moment before.  
“Could’ve been anyone, really. Teenagers I’ve yelled at f’makin’ out in my fields, farmhand’s I’ve fired..” He seems to ponder this.

Josh grimaces, suddenly not very hungry anymore. “Should we be worried?”

Chris shakes his head. “Sheriff said there was nothin’ he could do-no fingerprints. Jus’ said to keep watch.”  
Josh doesn’t know how that’s supposed to be reassuring until Chris swallows his food and looks him dead in the eyes.

”I promise ya, boy, when y’on this land, no one’s gonna mess w’ya.”

It’s certainly something comforting that leaves a pit in the bottom of Josh’s stomach.

That night, he’s told to get some rest. To try and forget about today.  
He wants to scoff and say that this was something that would be permanently etched in his mind for years to come, but instead he nods and turns the engine of his pickup.

The nightmares that crawl out from the stars while Josh sleeps are another thing he won’t soon be forgetting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok now u can all yell at me


End file.
